Interview with Zhang Xuefeng (Renowned Chinese Educational Blogger and Postgraduate/Gaokao Planning Consultant)

Interview with Zhang Xuefeng (Renowned Chinese Educational Blogger and Postgraduate/Gaokao Planning Consultant)

From the Space to the Western Dharma-Nature Land

Summary: Zhang Xuefeng is an educational consulting expert who rose to fame with his humorous and sharp style. Relying on extreme pragmatism, he broke the information asymmetry in further education for ordinary families. He is a controversial figure who has truly changed the destiny of countless students from humble backgrounds, a legend of grassroots success.

Interview. Chief Writer: Fa Ning

June 7, 2026

Zhang Xuefeng:

Namo Amituofo, my name is Zhang Xuefeng, a name that currently, too many people across China remember. I am now speaking to everyone with a very different state of mind than before, yet I can still speak as quickly and clearly as I used to. However, I am now expressing all of this from a world completely different from yours.

First, let me introduce this world to you; it is called the "Western Dharma-Nature Land", a world established by Namo Amituofo and Practitioner Su in the human world. I never thought that Buddhas truly existed, nor did I know that one could come to the Buddha's world after death. Since I passed away three months ago, I have experienced so many things. This great reversal has made me deeply realise that there truly is a "Buddha" in the world, a very great Namo Amituofo, and that Practitioner Su is here, giving lectures to everyone in the human world.

It turns out that these religious figures I previously did not know about and thought did not exist, are all truly real. Moreover, they are the awakened beings who can truly transcend the suffering of joy, anger, sorrow, and happiness, and all the afflictions within the six realms of rebirth of the world. I feel very shocked here, and I am learning the Buddha's teachings with a very humble and modest heart. This is completely different from everything I learned before. I must say, my proud personality from before is truly of no use here now, haha! All of this is also because Namo Amituofo and Practitioner Su are truly so full of Wisdom! In learning the Buddha's teachings, under the guidance of the Buddha, I am truly convinced. I used to not be convinced by anyone, but now I am truly convinced by the Buddha!

I never thought I would leave the human world so early, ending everything suddenly just as my career reached its peak. But having been in the Western Dharma-Nature Land for over a week now, I understand that perhaps I really have such great blessings to be able to encounter the Buddha after leaving the human world. I think the vast majority of the Chinese people cannot understand this, but I must tell everyone the truth, just like the plain truths I have been telling everyone my whole life. I hope everyone can listen carefully. I do not like to repeat myself, but today there are some things I might repeat, because I believe they are the most important things, especially the six-character name "Namo Amituofo".

I never felt there was anything special about it before; I only knew that a Buddha is a Buddha, and it had nothing to do with me. But now, after truly knowing the Buddha, I wept bitterly in the Western Dharma-Nature Land. I know I did many things wrong during my lifetime, both good and bad. My life was a mix of merits and demerits; too many people liked me, and too many people thought I was a very controversial figure. I can understand all of this.

I have always spoken bluntly and with a sense of humour, which could attract the attention and love of many people. Because I spoke the plain truth, sometimes I was too direct and offended many people. My style of speaking and inappropriate choice of words also caused many negative influences on everyone. I, Zhang Xuefeng, would like to say I am sorry to everyone here!

As a blogger who is very successful in the eyes of many, and a planning consultant for millions of Chinese people regarding Gaokao preferences and how to choose postgraduate studies, I owned a company and an excellent team, and gave many suggestions to young children; some suggestions were good, and some were not. Looking back now, this is no longer the point I want to make at this moment, but perhaps people will still be curious in the future, so I might touch upon it a little.

After I died, I spent over three months in the space before my death, suffering greatly. I am a lucky child! I only spent a few months suffering in the space I was so attached to, and then I came to this beautiful Western Dharma-Nature Land. Perhaps my eloquence can still provide a little inspiration to everyone! That is why I have the opportunity to speak today.

I used to sleep for less than a few hours every day, and the rest of the time I was working desperately to answer questions from children and students all over the country. Our company also proposed many plans to help them fill in their university or postgraduate preferences. I thought the work I did was very important because it affected many young people without family backgrounds, or children from humble families, providing them with a way out so that they could choose to believe in me and walk onto a broad and smooth path.

I diligently carried this pressure on my own shoulders. Although I always spoke in an unruly manner, saying things that people liked or disliked, in reality, I was still very concerned about the vast number of students in China. Because I came from a humble background myself, I know the difficulties of seeking an education, and I also know that the situation of internal competition in Chinese society is very serious. Therefore, because of my own experiences, I very much hoped that the children could have a better path to choose. I was determined to repay them with all my might.

Ha ha ha, speaking of which, my forty-one-year life ended just like that at the beginning of this year. So, what the Buddha's teachings say about the impermanence of life is true. I have now changed my identity and come to the Western Dharma-Nature Land, truly following Namo Amituofo and Practitioner Su to learn, starting everything from scratch. My life once reached its peak, but suddenly died within a few hours. At that time, I suddenly felt unwell in my heart, was sent to the hospital for treatment, and just like that, I left the human world.

I still have an eleven-year-old daughter at home waiting for me to return. Daddy is sorry, but perhaps I cannot accompany you in this life anymore. I know you are very, very sad, but if you can hear a few words from Daddy today, I hope you can take them to heart. This is a very precious opportunity for me to be able to say these things while being interviewed at the Hsiang Kuang Pure Land Buddhist Centre in Australia. I might be speaking a bit disjointedly, saying whatever comes to mind. I also hope the masters at the temple can help me organise what I am saying now; I do not want such messy words of mine to be presented before Practitioner Su, that might not be very good!

Well, having said all this, I first forgot to say that I am very grateful to Namo Amituofo and Practitioner Su. Reaching the end of this life and encountering the Buddha is something I cherish very, very much. I did not know the Buddha before, nor did I have any religion. Like many Chinese people, what I believed in was using education to change one's destiny, and that was it. However, now that I have reached this point, I know that the Universal Principle, the Truth, and the Right Way cannot be violated, and the laws of karma and cause and effect are naturally occurring things.

Thinking back on many things I said before, I feel uncomfortable for myself, and I also feel uncomfortable for everyone who has heard me speak. My insolence during my lifetime, and sometimes even speaking harsh words, affected people's hearts, their values, and their views on education, and so on. I want to say I am sorry to everyone. Although I hoped you would get ahead in life, now I hope even more that you can learn the Buddha's teachings, because this is the truly ultimate and perfect path!

Everything I taught you before only helped you to have a smoother process in further education and a smoother time when looking for a job. However, after saying so much, I did not truly and substantially help people to gain happiness or true satisfaction in their hearts. Instead, I taught many people to pursue everything on the surface, especially material and monetary things. In the long run, the concept that I hoped the children could find jobs that would allow them to earn more money was already a huge mistake.

People in China are in fierce competition in today's society, and the same is true for children in the process of further education. I knew this clearly as I went along. But the new path I opened up to help these people reduce some obstacles in their studies was actually just pushing them into another abyss. But I did not know; I thought that as long as they were successful in society, could earn money to live a good life, and could go from poverty to wealth, that was a good thing I did for them.

But what I did not think of, and never knew, is that the poverty, wealth, nobility, and lowliness of a person in a lifetime are originally matters of karma. Moreover, everything I taught the children with strong-handed methods also planted bad values in them, making them think that only goals oriented towards economic interests are correct. Although I spoke of practical theory, which is what people generally see in society, I also extinguished many pure and kind hearts in the process. Some people in their lives do not want to be rich and noble; they carry a pure heart and just want to help others, living an ordinary life.

But I always pushed the cruelest side of reality to the forefront, letting everyone experience the pain and the unkind side of society in advance. Isn't this what the Buddha's teachings call "thinking of the bad and seeing the bad"? It is indeed so. We bloggers hope that the more outrageous and exaggerated we can make things sound, the more we can attract the public's attention, and naturally, we can gain everyone's trust when providing solutions. Of course, many people may have received good help because of me, went to the schools and majors they wanted, and walked on the path they thought was correct. But to these children, I also want to give you a piece of advice: please let go of what I said before. Cherish the path you are on now.

If there is a chance, I still earnestly request everyone to come and know Namo Amituofo, to know the Buddha's teachings, especially the Buddha's teachings taught by the Hsiang Kuang Pure Land Buddhist Centre in Australia. Please, if you have the chance, I hope you can have the opportunity to truly understand all of this. Because no matter how well a person does, no matter how much money they have, just like me—I had already earned more money than I could spend in a lifetime—I was still working so hard to try to realise the dreams of generation after generation of children, and I also hoped that my reputation could be higher and higher. I had thoughts of benefiting others, and I also had selfish thoughts; I had both, and this must be my side of mixed good and evil!

I hoped to use my ability to help more people, and I also hoped to have this ability so that my reputation could redress my bad reputation, and I could gain a better name, and so on. Honestly, I had all of these. Looking back at all this now, I know that all of this is so illusory. Without this human body, there is no chance to do anything. This spirit is now in the Western Dharma-Nature Land, and being able to say a few words to the world at this time, I already feel very comforted.

I still advise everyone to learn the Buddha's teachings. The reason is very simple: learning the Buddha's teachings is the only path for everyone to truly perfect this life. Because no matter how well you do in the world, no matter how much money you earn, when impermanence arrives, you will still die. This life is not so easy to obtain, and this human body is not so easy to obtain. It was only in the Western Dharma-Nature Land that I learned that once a person deviates from the Universal Principle, the Truth, and the Right Way, there is no chance to be a human again. Not to mention that many, many people here have come up from the hells.

Actually, I was already a person suffering retribution in the hells; I had a soul suffering retribution in the hells long ago. Having said so much with this mouth and giving everyone some bad examples, how could I not suffer retribution in the hells? It was just that at the moment before I died, I had a very deep attachment to everything I had done in my lifetime, so I first stayed in the space I was most familiar with to continue working hard, living days without knowing the light of day. It was not until this time, when Namo Amituofo and Practitioner Su from the Hsiang Kuang Pure Land Buddhist Centre in Australia shone great light upon me and brought me away from that painful space to the Western Dharma-Nature Land, that I gradually became clear-minded.

I only then realised that I no longer possessed a human body; this body had already died, and it had been dead for three months. I truly woke up, looking back at how, after I had initially passed away, I received so much commemoration and remembrance from so many people. Everyone walked the streets, following me for several miles to see me off, which left me both moved and sorrowful. I was moved because it turned out that my human body, while on Earth, was still able to be of help to others. But I was sorrowful because, if I had helped so many people, did this not also mean that the number of students I had misled was just as large? This is not a good thing at all. Perhaps people would think that I truly helped them, but I now deeply know that the negative influence I brought upon them, and the deep memories planted in their Alaya consciousness, might be even more disastrous than the gift of successfully advancing in their studies. Advancing in studies is merely a part of life, and employment is also a part of life. However, people, especially the Chinese, now view these two matters as extremely important, to the point where, in order to succeed in studies and employment, they may spare no effort to trample others underfoot, or develop various personality traits such as psychological imbalance, dissatisfaction, and the like, or anger, jealousy, selfishness, and resentment. These are all very fatal things. I am now also very repentant for everything I did in the past. Human life is truly not just about success in studies and employment; there are many other things worth exploring. For example, what is mentioned in the Buddha’s teachings: the spirit never dies, and how to let go of this false body to attain awakening and achieve Buddhahood—this is the only thing that is truly supreme and perfect. What I taught children throughout my life, to put it plainly, was merely what Practitioner Su has been talking about in his Dharma talks: focusing on the body. I remained stuck in putting more effort into this body, hoping to gain greater rewards, and planted a thought in the children’s minds that "I must succeed and stand out," especially using the earning of more money as the standard of measurement. If I had this eloquence, this influence, and could still linger in the human world, I would vigorously promote the Buddha’s teachings. At the very least, I would use my most authentic experience to provide a lesson for the vast number of children, telling everyone: I, Zhang Xuefeng, have now died; I know what death is about, and I know what rebirth is about. Furthermore, I have encountered the Buddha. No one can compare to the Buddha’s wisdom. The Buddha is the one who follows the Universal Principle, the Truth, and the Right Way; when the spirit is elevated to the ultimate, that is a Buddha. Before me, Namo Amituofo and Practitioner Su are both like this. Practitioner Su is also a Buddha in the human world; he was born in Taiwan and established this temple, the Hsiang Kuang Pure Land Buddhist Centre, in Australia, hoping to lead people all over the world toward the state of being free from aging, free from illness, and your spirit never dies. In the past, I certainly would not have believed this, and might have continued to share these things on my blog while mocking these concepts. But fortunately, I was able to know the Buddha before this happened—truly know the Buddha. Perhaps the good thing is that I no longer have this body now and will not continue to create karma. I want everyone in China who knows me to know that I am able to learn the Buddha’s teachings. I want to tell everyone that everything said in the Buddha’s teachings can truly lead you to leaving suffering and gaining happiness, so you no longer have to suffer from this human body or carry this yoke. I am truly so grateful to Namo Amituofo and Practitioner Su. I used to act superior, refused to listen to advice, and believed that everything I did was definitely correct; now it seems that I am truly not worth mentioning in front of the Buddha. The Buddha can point out my past lives at a glance; everything that has happened to me, every little detail, the Buddha knows very clearly. The Buddha knows whether this heart of mine is kind or evil; the Buddha knows it all very clearly. And most importantly, the Buddha tells us all the truth that we ourselves are all Buddhas! It turns out that in the Buddha’s world, everything is so equal, without any discrimination. Regardless of whether you come from a wealthy family or a humble one, there is no difference; regardless of your race, country, culture, or religion, there is no difference. I used to work hard to pave a way for children from humble backgrounds, hoping they could fight for a bit of equal resources in society and strive for good jobs and a good life. But I did not realise that humans are inherently equal. The path to attaining Buddhahood is also inherently equal; everyone is a Buddha, it is just that the education and pollution received in this lifetime differ, which hinders everyone’s path to attaining Buddhahood. If I, Zhang Xuefeng, could still be in the human world now, I would certainly make good use of my eloquence; I could talk non-stop without feeling tired. If I could turn all of this around after truly purifying myself and give Dharma talks to the world, how wonderful that would be! Unfortunately, all of this is currently just my fantasy. Without this human body, no matter what I want to say, there is no way to make people believe in the Buddha. I say these things today because I sincerely hope that the people of China can see what I have said and believe that this truly comes from the authentic